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Comment by tpanzarella | Hacker News Reader

I would not classify mathematics as irrelevant. Math serves as the foundation for all of science and engineering. I would bet that most CS and Engineering grad students (and industry professionals) wish they had a stronger mathematics background ... even those with strong mathematics backgrounds ;-)

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Can't talk about Engineers, but as a professional programmer of 9 years with many years of undergraduate and graduate (M.Sc) Mathematics education, I must say I rarely/never use any of the math I've learned (at least not something I wouldn't have learned as an undergrad CS major) at work.

I have heard your argument very often though, it seems about as popular as the one that states painters benefit from knowledge of Chemistry[1] ;)

[1] http://www.idlewords.com/2005/04/dabblers_and_blowhards.htm#...

As a former automotive engineer, I can say I didn't use my math much either. In fact engineering in my experience was mostly project management, the degree just gave you the background to work with everyone else.

Clearly, it depends on what you do. My experience is quite the opposite of yours. I cannot speak for what you do, but, in my field (robotics) if you do not have a strong mathematics background, you will not last very long.

It was a bit tongue-in-cheek, but I have never used anything beyond sophomore linear algebra in my work.

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